Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau

Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau (2 December 1846-10 August 1904) was Prime Minister of France from 22 June 1899 to 7 June 1902, succeeding Charles Dupuy and preceding Emile Combes. He was a highly influential liberal statesman, championing anti-clerical and secular reforms in the areas of divorce, education, and work hours, and he also oversaw the governmental recognition of trade unions and the pardoning of Alfred Dreyfus. He went on to found the Democratic Republican Alliance upon the disintegration of the National Republican Association in 1901. Waldeck-Rousseau was often considered to have been France's greatest statesman since Leon Gambetta, his mentor.

Biography
Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau was born in Nantes, Brittany, France on 2 December 1846, the son of a prominent liberal lawyer and politician. He became a lawyer in Paris in 1869, and his father's reputation helped him to advance in republican circles. In 1877, he was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies, and he joined the Republican Union parliamentary group under Leon Gambetta. Despite being a devout Catholic, Waldeck-Rousseau supported Jules Ferry's creation of a public, secular, and compulsory education system, and he supported the secularization of Sunday and fast day work hours and the re-establishment of divorce. In 1884, he successfully pushed for the state to recognize trade unions, and he served as Interior Minister from 1883 to 1885. In 1889, he retired to focus on his law practice, but he returned to politics in 1894 as a Senator for Loire. The next year, he mounted a failed conservative-backed presidential bid, as he backed Felix Faure at the last minute. In 1899, President Emile Loubet asked Waldeck-Rousseau to form a government following the fall of Charles Dupuy's ministry, and he formed a government backed by the Radicals and Socialists. He pardoned Alfred Dreyfus in an attempt to end the Dreyfus affair, and he was surprisingly able to bring the country together for much of his premiership. However, his 1901 attempt to enact a mass closure of church schools led to the rise in popularity of the right-wing Catholic Popular Liberal Action party. After the left won the 1902 general election, Waldeck-Rousseau considered his task ended and resigned, having been the strongest French leader since Gambetta. He died in 1904 at the age of 57.